A Look at 1986, and the Climate for ’87 : Agriculture

Following the pattern of the last two decades, farming was diminished further this year in Orange County, as industry, commerce and housing continued to consume cropland.

As the area continued to be one of the most rapidly urbanized areas in the nation, acreage being farmed in the county fell to an estimated 32,000--half of what is was in 1965. Precise figures for 1986 are not yet available, but agricultural officials say they don’t believe the downward trend in farming can be reversed.

Take the 13 acres in Santa Ana farmed by Blair Smith, for example. This year, the lifetime Orange County farmer raised limas, tomatoes, cabbage and half a dozen other crops on the land he rents. But tomorrow, construction is scheduled to begin on a condominium complex on the southern half of the property, and Smith said he believes it is only a matter of time before bulldozers attack the remaining portion of the land.

“We’re permanently paving over our ability to grow certain crops,” said Wayne Appel, deputy Orange County agricultural commissioner, citing the loss of much of the county’s production of peaches, melons, asparagus and apples. In this, an area with some of the most fertile soils and favorable growing climates in the nation, fruits and vegetables that once grew here in abundance are now being imported “at a fat price from all over the world,” Appel said.

As space gets tighter and costs rise, relatively low-income crops such as lettuce, limas, celery and citrus are giving way to higher-income crops such as strawberries. In place of these crops will be people, about a million more of them by the year 2010, a recent Southern California Assn. of Governments report said.

For remaining farmers in Orange County, prices improved somewhat from the disastrous levels of a few years ago.

As in past years, strawberries were the top crop in Orange County in 1986, followed by Valencia oranges and celery.

A basket of other crops, including tomatoes, avocados, beans, corn, asparagus, cabbage, lemons, squash, cucumbers and lettuce, are still grown here. Gradually, however, production of those crops is migrating to Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties and overseas.

Farm employment levels are expected to remain essentially unchanged this year, ranging from 12,000 workers in the peak month of May to about 6,000 in December, the lowest month for agricultural activity. The steadiness in farm jobs is the result of a slight shift in 1986 to more labor-intensive crops, the state Employment Development Department said.

Food processing in Orange County also remained essentially flat this year, holding at an average of about 9,100 workers, down from the peak of 9,800 workers in 1981.